Titan Comics 2016
Written by John & Carole Barrowman
Illustrated by Antonio Fuso & Pasquale Qualano
Coloured by Marco Lesko
Lettered by Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Sir James Sterling, master of Torchwood House, has been killed, and his widow Lady Karina is desperate to find out his secrets, but is misled by Sir James’ butler, Gilly. Meanwhile, Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and the crew of the Ice Maiden have fended off an attack by ninjas on jetskis, but face a series of mysteries including an alien attack on a fishing vessel, why the ninjas attacked them, and the identity of Rona, the mysterious stowaway on board!
As the mystery behind Gilly deepens we’re treated to a behind the scenes look at what he’s up to but left with only more questions. It’s rather effective in my humble opinion that his role in this little drama be so ambiguous at this point in time. I’d much rather learn what his intentions are alongside Jack and the others than be shown his duplicitous ways ahead of time. It just adds somethng to the mix to get these glimpses without any real direction.
Meanwhile on the Ice Maiden Gwen still questions why she’s there instead of spending time with her hubby. I am such a fan of the writing and characterisation here and over the years it’s so nice to see that John and his sister Carole have become this amazing writing duo who are able to capture these characters so well. While Rona may be a new character with unknown motives the rest of these characters have been established and it’s great to see them all behaving in such familiar ways that makes this seem as natural a progression of the show that we’re going to get.
I’m digging the interiors this issue as well. The clean, crisp linework and the detail in characters faces and body language really help flesh out their feelings at any particular moment. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and the use of backgrounds really help to tell the story more fully. The colouring is rather nice to see as well, there are moments--see army pants--they really stand out.
I do like that we see more of the story playing out in some very unusual ways. Oh and it’s always nice to see Captain John Hart come back. So suddenly it would seem like the Barrowman’s are convoluting the story with a lot of the past coming into play but the way it’s being introduced and handled is extremely well done. Granted i’m pretty much in the dark as to how they will all come together and play out as the story continues but that’s half the appeal here. Who wants to know the outcome before it gets here?
Perhaps it’s because we haven’t seen Torchwood in too long but I love the fact that while we’re staying close to its timeline we still have this incredible freshness and excitement to what’s happening. I am such a fan of the fact that John’s so involved in this because seriously he’s one of the few with such a history and knowledge of the franchise. You can see how much he loves Torchwood and how important it is to him still with the way this story is moving along.
Torchwood fans rejoice and for those who aren’t as familiar you should read this because it’s good solid, interesting storytelling. Sci-fi and mystery never blended together so well.